The Week For Newcastle United 21
- mattlewis89
- Mar 3
- 6 min read
I have had a little bit of a break from my articles over the last couple of weeks for a few reasons but here is the latest one and unfortunately it wasn't a good weekend for any of our teams.
Poor League Form Continues
Newcastle were beaten 3-2 at home by Everton this past weekend and we suffered our 5th league defeat in our last six.
The bit that's really niggled at me with that is that when we equalized, we let them go straight down the other end and score, not once but twice. Once is bad enough and that’s human error but for it to happen twice is criminal. That's a lack of concentration, a mentality thing and it’s frustrating. That's where fans get their backs up and rightly so.
That game was there to win even though Everton are no mugs this season, they're having a good season but that's a home game like Brentford that we should've been winning. Simple as that, and it's really, frustrating.
The goalkeeping situation must be addressed in the summer. That error from Nick Pope was horrendous. He sort of parried it down, which was bad enough in itself, but when he went to recover the rebound, it was almost like slow motion. The Goalkeeper position is an unforgiving one, every mistake's going to get punished, but with Pope it happens repeatedly, that goalkeeping situation must be addressed in the summer. There are keepers out there that we can look at. I can't see Ramsdale having his loan move made permanent because when Pope was injured towards the end of the year, he didn't take his opportunity either.
The Wissa situation is really frustrating me. I can't remember who it was who said. I think it might have been Joe that was saying about it, but when Wissa joined from Brentford, he was doing a similar thing to what Isak's doing, what Isak did, and then he's now struggled since joining Newcastle, whether it be through injury, through lack of playing time. Unfortunately, with Wissa we may have panic bought and we overpaid. The summer transfer window was a nightmare, and Wissa I think is a big example of that summer transfer window.
March isn't going to get any easier. In March, we've got Man City, Barcelona that's twice, Chelsea, and then we end with a game that we'll talk about when it comes to it.
We need to improve because Europe is really looking like it's off the table now. We're seven adrift of Brentford, were 12 adrift of fifth place, which will get you Champions League. Champions League will not happen unless we win the Champions League. We might get into the Conference League via eighth, but we need to do something, and this month could be unforgiving, and we could be out of everything and then have April and May as dead rubber months, which would be awful for a team that's supposed to be winning everything for the next five years.
So, what happens now? Does Ramsdale come in on Wednesday to start? If Eddie does go with Pope then straight away Pope's under pressure, then before the ball's even kicked off.
The question now is, is there going to be a change coming in the summer?
I’m sure there's going to be discussions in the summer, and I stand by what I have said since the turn of the year that Eddie’s time at St James Park may have organically come to an end.
I do not want him to be sacked. I’ve got to make that perfectly clear. I am Eddie Howe in every step of the way during the season, but I think in the summer, the time will be right for that discussion to organically happen, regardless of how the season ends, whether we finish 12th, 11th, 10th, sixth. Whatever happens for the rest of the season.
Eddie Howe has been the fourth longest serving manager in the Premier League now, only, uh, Pep Guardiola and Marco Silva above him. If Eddie were to go in the summer, who would you replace him with because you can look at the big-name managers, but if we're not in Europe, that's not going to happen. We could look at unknowns, which comes at risks as well. At the moment I'm not even looking at who I want, because as I said, I'm not Eddie Howe out especially in the middle of the season.
Big conversations do need to happen so we have clear direction of where we're going, and if that's under Eddie Howe, brilliant and if it's not under Eddie Howe, then make that decision quickly following the final whistle in game 38 (Or the Champions League final you never know)
We can then see where we finish in the season, see if we're in Europe, see what players are going so there's a clear, not a reset because it's been five years since the takeover, but a, a clear new direction, new forward motion under Eddie or whoever it's going to be based on those discussions at the end of May.
The Academy
On to the academy now, and the weekend started with Newcastle under twenty-ones letting a two-goal lead slip against ten men Brighton on Friday night.
It was a tight, competitive first half until the 43rd minute when Sean Neave went through on goal, pulled down in the box, definite penalty, definite red card. Stuck away his penalty well. And then also just before half-time, brilliant little bit of play from Fitzgerald. puts it through to Neave who makes it 2-0, We were thinking the game's done but we conceded two goals in the second half,The Newcastle U21s have improved in recent weeks, getting some more better points, performances and results, With the U21s I say we can still make the play-offs, that's got to be the goal, but it's, it's we've got to see where we get on with that one.
What to do Sean Neave next season's is going to be an interesting dilemma in the summer because he's still only eighteen. Do you try and get him a good loan move? Do you integrate him with the first team squad? Our striker situation is something that's going to be looked at in the summer, and I can see Osula going. Wissa has not performed, as I was talking about earlier. So, Sean Neave could be a part of that first team, but we want him to develop and develop well, because he is a good finisher. He's got twelve goals this season already and two assists, The next move for his development is going to be vital.
Other players that have impressed me in the couple of games I've watched, I think Fitzgerald had a really good first half against Brighton, Michael Mills, both times he's come on at half-time recently, I've been really impressed with him and he could be a very good player.
It was another defeat for the U18 as they continue to struggle since the turn of the year. Kasey Worcester did add his ninth goal of the season and could well be the heir apparent to Sean Neave in the academy when Sean Neave goes on, on loan or ends up in the first team squad.
Going into Christmas, we were sitting third on 25 points out of twelve played but results have dropped since then. Newcastle United U18s will be at home to Sunderland U18s on Saturday, so there's no better time to put it right.
The Lasses still on break
The lasses are in the midst of their long break from WSL2 action, but that doesn't mean there's no ne-news for the lasses.
We have ten players on international duty. Shania Hayles is off with Jamaica, Emily Murphy and Mannion are with the Republic of Ireland, Lois Joel's with Wales, Freya Gregory, Jasmine Mcquade and Charlotte Wardlow are with the Scotland and Scotland U23s squad and Anna Tamminen and Oona are with the Finland squad.
Kaitlyn Torpey is also in the Australian women's squad for the Women's Asian Cup, and they won their opening fixture against the Philippines on Sunday.
It was over a week ago, but the lasses under twenty-ones had a great win. They beat London City Lionesses under twenty-ones seven-two to pick up their third win of the season and to go four points clear of the bottom two in the PGA Women's Division Two.
NFTV non-league
It was a tale of two three-ones for the Newcastle Fans TV-focused non-league sides as North Shields were beaten 3-1 by Crook Town, but Ryton and Crawcrook won three-one away to Billingham Town to keep their hopes of the play-offs alive and the hopes of a potential Newcastle Fans TV derby. They both currently sit in 8th in their respective divisions in Northern League Division One and Two.
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